Northwest Dive Club

Anyone know what this little guy's name is? It was a real pain to get these photos, he was an elusive little rascal!

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1179/146 ... c547_o.jpg" width="800" height="430" alt="Unknown Fish"></a>

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1426/146 ... 41de_o.jpg" width="800" height="432" alt="Unknown Fish"></a>

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1386/146 ... eed5_o.jpg" width="800" height="546" alt="Unknown Fish"></a>

i know it's NOT a scalyhead sculpin - no three lines going out of the eyes. (learned that trick on the REEF boat last month.)

i think it might be a LONGFIN sculpin. ???

nice photos, by the way!!!

i'm sticking with longfin sculpin - i'm a little confused because the bottom fin doesn't look very long but otherwise it looks like the right guy ... and i didn't see any others in my books that looked even similar.

Definitely a Longfin. And a 'lil' beauty by the way!

I concur. Longfin Sculpin. You can see A LOT of these guys at Keystone. Where did you spot this one?

Thanks everyone! I saw this little guy at Cove 2. His colors were great but these photos were taken underneath one of those large metal plates, so the photos turned out a little dark.

Great shots, Calvin!!! These buggers are VERY hard to get good shots of. I've been trying for years to get one that shows the fins, lines on the chin, etc. You did an excellent job of capturing all the things I've been trying to get!

As far as the ID goes - remember - Confucious say:

White lines on chin...
Longfin...
Sculpin!

The white lines look GREAT in your shot! Kaia - yes, that yellow anal fin DOES look shorter than normal - but in the first shot you can see he's just got it curled under oddly for the photos.

The Longfin Sculpin is named after its very long yellow anal fin - really pretty critter!

- Janna

nwscubamom wrote:These buggers are VERY hard to get good shots of. I've been trying for years to get one that shows the fins, lines on the chin, etc. You did an excellent job of capturing all the things I've been trying to get!

Thanks Janna. I'd be happy if some of my photos made it into the game of Fish-O

Saw this one in May at Cove 2
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I don't see these guys very often, but I have spotted them a couple of times at Cove 2, and I don't dive there much... maybe 15-20 dives a year. They are HARD to get a picture of!

how did you guys get those? i love sculpins, but except for the big guys i am never able to get a good shot of 'em. the little guys are skittish - guess i'm bigger than they are and they think i'm hungry?

Dumb Luck, Dive Alot, Patience, and paying attention.

I think I swam over hundreds of Scaleyheads before I actually started seeing them. Their camouflage is incredible. It's funny how your eyes start "getting tuned" to certain critters after awhile. (New perscription mask also helped!!) Of course as a fairly new diver (2 years now) the better diver I become the more I can concentrate on critter finding. You dive with some great mentors, so you know the value of slowing down...

It also helps to dive with great critter spotters who put up with you shooting a critter over and over, and then as self defense against boredom start finding other cool critters because they have to hang around and wait for you! (Thanks Doug and Keith and others!)

FWIW, taking photos of Scalyheads is WAY easier than shooting Longfins!

Doncha just hate it when your dive buddies are tugging on your fins to show you the OTHER cool thing they found while you're still shooting pics of the first cool thing??

hehe!!!

- Janna

nwscubamom wrote:FWIW, taking photos of Scalyheads is WAY easier than shooting Longfins!

Agreed! I have dozens of pics of Scalyheads and only a few of Longfins!

nwscubamom wrote:Doncha just hate it when your dive buddies are tugging on your fins to show you the OTHER cool thing they found while you're still shooting pics of the first cool thing??

hehe!!!

- Janna

Agreed again! Although I have such great dive buddys that they can tug on my fins anytime!

Nice photos Calvin. Second picture, upper right corner......Whats that?

That's a Black Eye Goby - it's upside down, and it appears to be sporting some mating colors - the black ventral fins are a giveaway!

- Janna

Here's one I saw at Keystone in July when we did the Critter Watcher dives there.